The new variety of red raspberry, Rubus idaeus L., was created in the course of a planned breeding program. ‘NR7’ was selected as a seedling amongst a family targeted to produce commercial raspberry cultivars. The parents used to make the cross were the unpatented selection HR101 (seed parent) from a Nelson, New Zealand breeding programme and the unpatented variety ‘Willamette’ (pollen parent).
The controlled cross performed to produce the population from which ‘NR7’ was selected was carried out in a greenhouse at Nelson, New Zealand in 1997 and resulting seed was sent to Lynden, Wash., USA in 1999. A total of 120 seedlings were raised from the seedlot and were planted. The original plant of the new variety was selected and given the breeders code ZNH062 (and was subsequently coded ‘NR7’ at the advanced selection stage) during the 2001 summer.